Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for The Southern Blue Ridge (Physiographic Area 23) Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for The Southern Blue Ridge (Physiographic Area 23) Version 1.0 December 1999 Written by: Chuck Hunter, Robert Katz, David Pashley, and Bob Ford Send reviews, questions, or comments to: Chuck Hunter U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1875 Century Blvd. Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30345 ph: 404-679-7130 SOUTHERN BLUE RIDGE BIRD CONSERVATION PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over 155 bird species nest in the Southern Blue Ridge. Widespread and representative species include dark-eyed junco, northern cardinal, black-throated blue warbler, Carolina wren and blue-headed vireo. Appalachian populations of Bewick’s wren, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern saw-whet owl, and black-capped chickadee, as well as golden-winged, Swainson’s and cerulean warblers are rare or uncommon, have very specific habitat requirements and serve as umbrella, or focal, species for conservation planning efforts. Of these birds, a large proportion is nearctic-neotropical migrants dependent on mature forest. Examples include Louisiana waterthrush, Acadian flycatcher, veery, ovenbird and Canada warbler. Furthermore, species associated with frequently disturbed and/or early successional habitats like prairie warbler, field sparrow, and northern bobwhite have also suffered significant population declines in the recent past and warrant conservation attention. The Southern Blue Ridge Physiographic Area (SBR) includes the Central Blue Ridge, Southern Blue Ridge and Metasedimentary Mountains subsections of the Southern Appalachians which covers portions of Northern Georgia, Western North Carolina, Northwestern South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Southern Virginia. Topography consists of tall mountains with long broad ridges, steep slopes, deep ravines and wide intermountain valleys. The combinations of landform, elevation, and soils, along with the area’s humid and temperate climate, make the Southern Blue Ridge one of the most biologically diverse areas in North America. The region supports large numbers of plant and animal species including the highest diversity of salamanders in the world, extremely rich forests with a tremendous diversity of tree and herbaceous species, and very high densities of breeding birds. Six forest types and 3 general habitat categories have been identified as important bird habitats. These include spruce-fir, high-elevation (including northern) hardwoods, hemlock-white pine, cove (mixed mesophytic) hardwoods, Appalachian oak hardwoods, and southern yellow pine forests, as well as, early successional habitats, lowland riparian woodlands and urban/suburban “backyards”/rural woodlots. Bird species have been scored according to the Partners in Flight prioritization process and grouped into three broad suites associated with: (1) high-elevation forests, (2) habitat conditions associated with frequently disturbed forests, and (3) mature forests of all types. Conservation opportunities and management recommendations have been described and suggested for each habitat type. Specific landscape habitat recommendations for the Southern Blue Ridge include: (1) protecting and restoring imperiled spruce-fir and Table mountain/pitch pine forest communities, (2) increasing the amount of late successional northern hardwoods, hemlock-white pine, cove hardwoods, southern yellow pine forests, (3) improving structural complexity for presently closed canopy, mid-successional stands in all forest types for understory and canopy dependent forest species, (4) protecting and restoring sensitive mountain wetlands and bald communities, (5) increasing the amount of early successional, shrub scrub habitat in high-elevation (again including northern) hardwoods, Appalachian oak, and southern yellow pine forests, and (6) improving the condition and increasing the amount of lowland riparian habitats. Table of Contents Section 1: The Planning Unit Background 1 Conservation issues 3 Conservation opportunities 8 Section 2: Avifaunal Analysis Background 11 Priority species 12 Priority species suites 14 Priority taxa below species level 14 Section 3: Habitats and Objectives Spruce-Fir-Northern Hardwoods (High Peaks) Forests 16 High Elevation Forests 29 Hemlock – White Pine 35 Cove (mixed mesophytic) Forests 40 Appalachian Oak Forests 46 Early succession, Shrub-scrub, Balds 52 Southern Yellow Pine 60 Lowland Riparian Woodlands 65 Urban/Suburban backyards, Rural Woodlots 70 Section 4: Implementation Recommendations Implementation Recommendations 72 Literature Cited 79 Appendix I: Partners in Flight Prioritization Process – Scores For Birds of the SBR Appendix II: Acreage Needs for Bird Conservation in the SBR Acknowledgments This is an advanced plan, identified as Version 1.0, to help define bird conservation initiatives for the Southern Blue Ridge physiographic area. The following recommendations and objectives remain open for comments, discussion and review. Implementation recommendations are based upon several assumptions that require research, monitoring or adaptive management techniques in order to be verified. The amount, condition, landuse and ownership percentages of the habitats discussed above need to be accurately described and verified. Responses of specific bird species to management recommendations need to be monitored and/or tested. Therefore, aggressive implementation of recommendations should only follow rigorous testing of assumptions and should be followed by equally rigorous monitoring the responses of both target and non-target species. Many peope have assisted with the writing and ideas of this plan, and lively discussions have helped with the thoughts towards better conservation. Those people included Dave Buehler, Laura Mitchell, Chuck Nicholson, Fred Alsop, Dave Lee, Jim Woehr, Chris Haney, The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, the Southern Regional office of The Nature Conservancy, and many others. 1 Section 1: The Planning Unit Background The Southern Blue Ridge Physiographic Area (SBR) encompasses about 3.7 million ha (9.1 million acres) in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia (Figure 1), and includes the Central Blue Ridge, Southern Blue Ridge, and Metasedimentary Mountains subsections of the Southern Appalachian Assessment area (SAMAB 1996). The area topography is characterized by rugged mountains, long broad ridges, steep slopes, and deep ravines. The area includes the highest mountains east of the Mississippi River, many peaks reach over 1,830 m (6,000 feet). The high- elevation forests of the SBR are referred to as the “High Peaks” Region to distinguish them from similar forests of the Central Appalachians or the Rocky Mountains (White et al. 1993). Wide valleys, containing large areas of open level ground, occur as low as 305 m (1,000 feet). The climate is temperate and humid with the mean annual temperature ranging between 10o C (50o F) and 15.6o C (60o F) (SAMAB 1996). Average annual precipitation, occurring as either rain or snow, is between 100 cm - 125 cm (40 in - 50 in) and can range up to 150 cm (60 in) at the highest elevations. Primary and secondary streams occur throughout the area. Headwaters for the Apalachicola, Mobile, New, Savannah, and Tennessee Rivers are located here. Nearly 80% of the region is covered by forest vegetation in some state of regeneration, the remaining 20% is being utilized for agriculture or, increasingly, for urban/suburban development and occurs typically in the valleys between mountain ranges (Figure 2). The forest is currently made up of a mosaic of stands ranging in age from a few to over 180 years old, and in some places, old-growth forests well over 200 years old still occur. The majority of these forests are in a mid-successional age class (between 41 - 80 years old) with smaller amounts in early (0 - 10 years), sapling/pole (11-40) and late (91+ years) successional age groups (SAMAB 1996). Dominant forest communities important to avian species conservation include “High Peaks” spruce-fir-northern hardwood forests, pure northern hardwood, hemlock-white pine-hardwood, cove hardwood, Appalachian oak, southern yellow pine, and lowland riparian woodlands. The distribution of these forest types is dependent upon elevation, soil conditions, aspect, other landform features, and 2 disturbance regimes that occur across the landscape (Figure 3, Kendeigh and Fawver 1981). Forests composed of red spruce and Fraser fir occur at the highest elevations, usually above 1667 m (5,000 ft). Pure stands of Fraser fir can occur at or above 1830 m (6,000 ft). Spruce-fir grades down to northern hardwood forests (yellow birch, sugar maple, American beech) or hemlock-white pine forests on steep, north-facing slopes above 1500 m (4,500 ft.) and Appalachian oak forests (usually dominated by northern red and white oak) on drier sites. Appalachian oak forests are by far the most ubiquitous forest type in the area (SAMAB 1996, Stephenson et. al. 1993). These forests typically consist of a mixture of northern red, scarlet, black, white, and chestnut oaks, as well as other dominant tree species like hickories. Tree species distribution and abundance vary in relation to soil moisture and elevation (see Stephenson et. al. 1993). Mixed mesophytic hardwood forests (or cove hardwoods) occur on more mesic sites, typically on lower slopes and in protected coves and ravines at low to mid-elevations. Here, mesophytic tree species like tulip poplar, eastern hemlock, sugar maple, American